


Stay

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22674112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: During a mission, Shiro finds a small child all alone.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soulstoned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulstoned/gifts).



> Mentions of death (Shiro's clones)

“Keith? I…have something to show you.” 

Keith greeted him with a kiss before studying his eyes, his brows furrowed. “Is everything okay, Shiro?” 

Shiro chuckled uneasily as he rubbed the back of his head. “Yes…it’s just…you have to see this.” 

He led Keith away from the Atlas cafeteria and down several halls to the cabin they shared. Within, there was nothing which grabbed Keith’s attention—at least, not right away. Nothing stood out, and his sharp hearing didn’t pick up anything out of the ordinary. Even his own sensitivity to quintessence hadn’t alerted him to another presence in their cabin. 

So when Shiro pointed towards the tiny child hunched before the couch, Keith gave a start. 

“How—”

The tiny child appeared somewhat Altean given the pointy ears, but with larger dark eyes, different facial markings, and a tiny pair of antennae atop the head. But what struck Keith more was the strange manner the child just...stood: stock still, unmoving. Keith hadn’t sensed the child at all when they had entered, and even now, the child made no movement as they came closer. 

Keith glanced at Shiro with all the questions just bursting to come out. 

“I found the remains of the base where you had fought my clone,” Shiro said. Keith winced. “I wanted to see if any more of my selves had survived. Some had fallen onto this...once inhabitable planet. The whole place was a wreck. Some battle must have torn through the planet. Were the Galra searching for a living clone? I'm still trying to determine that...but I did find something—((someone))—right beside one of the clone bodies…she was tucked away against a street so damaged I almost missed her, but she was there, clinging to my clone’s corpse. 

“Keith, there was a cracked television in the shop right next to her. It showed _The Voltron Show_ on a loop—yes, that thing Coran had us—them—do. Her eyes were glued to the screen as she held onto my clone. I realized she recognized my clone as the Black Paladin. She thought he could protect her.” 

A shiver ran through Keith.

“I gently nudged her away from the corpse—I mean, she was really holding tight to it. I tried to find her family, but there wasn’t anyone else around, and I couldn’t trust leaving her behind. I kept her with me.”

“And now she’s in our quarters, you’ve gotten attached to you, and now you want to ask if she can stay with us.” 

“Keith, I’m sorry…”

“I…I know we agreed on no kids for another few years...” Keith began as he studied the tiny child. All the time they spoke and still she hadn’t moved. And there was the fact that he couldn’t feel her own quintessence. It happened every so often that Keith grew to recognize it for what it implied, and that very thought that someone so wrong suffered so greatly was too much to bear. His own pains which he had to endure, and Shiro’s own scars—that was enough. No one deserved to experience such horrors, especially one so tiny, helpless, and young. “...but, war doesn’t wait for when we’re ready to be parents.”

Shiro nodded. 

“Hey,” Keith spoke softly to the child and collected her in his arms. “My name is Keith. Another paladin played me in _The Voltron Show_ , but I’m the Red Paladin. I’m married to the Black Paladin, Shiro the Hero.” 

The child blinked as she studied first Shiro, then Keith. 

“Would you like to stay with us?” Shiro asked. 

Again, she studied them, her large, wide eyes seemingly glassy, haunted, as she slowly processed Shiro’s question. Finally, one hand on Keith’s and one hand reaching for Shiro, she whimpered, “Stay. I wanna stay.”


End file.
